What we do

We find and destroy landmines, cluster munitions and unexploded bombs in places affected by conflict. Since 1989, we have helped over 18 million people in 68 countries rebuild their lives and livelihoods after war.

Governance

Board of trustees

Karen Brown

Karen spent 20 years working in the creative industries first at Granada Television and then Channel 4, latterly as Deputy Director of Programmes and Managing Director of 4Learning (1997-2001). She became a consultant in Whitehall and with several public bodies including the Royal Botanical Gardens of Kew. She has served on public, not-for-profit and commercial boards. In a voluntary capacity, she is committed to international development, and over the last 15 years has chaired ActionAid, been vice chair of ActionAid International, chaired Oxfam and now chairs MAG.

Imagine your world wrecked by war and afterwards by the fear of the unexploded mines and shells still concealed in the landscape around you. I deeply admire MAG’s work clearing these unexploded weapons, thereby enabling people to rebuild their lives.

Diane Reid

Chair of the Governance, Nominations & Remuneration Committee Diane is the former Head of the BBC’s Corporate Responsibility and Outreach Department. Before that she worked in broadcasting production and management for more than thirty years. Voluntary sector roles have included Board membership of L’Arche UK and HCPT, where Diane has specialised in areas including strategic development, governance and risk management. She has been Chief Executive of the Community Media Association, the sector body for community radio and television, and also worked for Comic Relief. Diane is a qualified fundraiser, MInstF(Cert), and executive coach and mentor, PG(Cert).

MAG has been for many years, and continues to be, absolutely committed to a safe future for those affected by conflict. This commitment is professional, persistent and, above all, practical.

Chris Kemp

Director Group Security, News UK Chris is the Group Director of Security for News UK (the Times, the Sunday Times and the Sun newspapers). He has over 30 years of safety and security experience. Chris is a former Army Officer and then Senior Security Advisor for the UK Government’s Stabilisation Unit and most recently spent three years as the head of the BBC High Risk and News Safety team.

MAG makes a difference to the lives of people struggling to forge futures in the aftermath of war and violence.

Jane Marriott

Director, Joint International Counter Terrorism Unit (Foreign and Commonwealth Office / Home Office) Jane is an expeditionary diplomat with a focus on Middle East and international security issues. She has served as HM Ambassador to Sana’a, Yemen and as Deputy Ambassador to Tehran, Iran. She has been posted to Afghanistan, twice to Iraq, and to Washington DC as an advisor to the US Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke. She joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 2001 and has also worked for the Ministry of Defence, Cabinet Office and Home Office.

I believe MAG’s work is incredibly important. In my day job, it can takes years to see the (hopefully positive) impact of some of our work. The fact that MAG makes lives better on a daily basis is a wonderful contrast.

John Michael Shinnick

Chartered Accountant, NLP practitioner and EMCC Coach-MentorJohn was a partner with Grant Thornton for 21 years working with entrepreneurial entities in an advisory and assurance capacity. He now runs a coach-mentoring-advisory consultancy, working in the corporate space, developing and guiding people and working on projects with them. He holds a number of non-executive director positions predominantly in commercial enterprises.

I lived for a period in East Africa and was aware that there were places that people could not go because of the scourge of landmine contamination. It did not feel fair. I was given the opportunity to learn more about MAG and was consumed by the commitment of the people and the impact that we have on peoples' lives.

Kathy Peach

Independent innovation and futures consultantIn addition to being an independent innovation and futures consultant, Kathy is also the Interim Head of Nesta’s Centre for Collective Intelligence Design - exploring how human and machine intelligence can be combined to develop innovative solutions to social challenges. Prior to Nesta, Kathy was the Head of Innovation and Foresight at Bond, the network for global development organisations. In this role she spearheaded the use of futures techniques to open up thinking about new development pathways and pioneered work on business model innovation for international NGOs. She’s held leadership roles at a range of non-profits, including disability charity Scope, international development agency VSO and the public body, Healthwatch England. Kathy is a member of the 2018 Newton Fund Prize Committee. She was named one of the top 40 most influential international development leaders under 40 by sector website Devex.

Matthew Sherrington

Independent charity consultant, Inspiring Action Matthew has more than 25 years’ experience of charity marketing and leadership. He spent 14 years at Oxfam, working on the South Africa programme in the early 1990s before working in fundraising, and with Oxfam International coordinating marketing activities across several countries.Matthew was then Fundraising Director at Greenpeace USA for four years, led a charity-focused creative agency, and since 2013 he runs his own consultancy, Inspiring Action, working with charities big and small. From 2016-17 Matthew was Interim Communications Director at Oxfam. He lives with his family in Oxford.

I have been a volunteer board trustee for MAG since 2013 and visited Lebanon in 2015. I am committed to international development, the charity sector and organisational effectiveness, and am inspired by MAG’s vital humanitarian mission to free people from the fear and danger of landmines.

Judith Greenwood

Independent ConsultantJudith is an independent consultant and was the first Executive Director of the CHS Alliance. Based in Portugal, she has over three decades of experience in the humanitarian sector. Between 2002 and 2015, Judith held senior management positions at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva and in the field, including in the Occupied Territories, Sudan, and Chad. She has worked for Concern Worldwide in Sudan, Angola and for the International Rescue Committee in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, East Timor, Indonesia and Afghanistan. A health professional by training, she holds a Master’s degree in Social Policy and Planning in Developing Countries from the London School of Economics.

Having worked in Angola, I have seen first-hand that before during and after a conflict, landmines and other unexploded ordnance can devastate the lives of people and communities affected by crisis. The work of MAG helps to save lives, build futures and above all, gives hope to people who have had to endure so much suffering.

Prof. Bertrand Taithe

Executive Director Humanitarian And Conflict Response Institute, University of ManchesterBertrand Taithe studied in the Sorbonne and Manchester and has been working at the University of Manchester since 2000. Bertrand researches humanitarian practices and organisations. He founded the Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute in 2008 and is a trustee of UK-Med and a scientific committee member of the MSF think tank CRASH in Paris. He has worked and is working with IFRC, Save the Children, HI and ALNAP in the humanitarian sector. His writings are on the history and the current policies of the humanitarian industry. Bertrand co-edits a book series on humanitarian affairs with Manchester University Press and an open access journal, Humanitarian Affairs.

MAG is an organisation with a specific mandate, a clear role in the world and considerable ambitions. It is a growing organisation at a crucial phase in our changing understanding of wars and conflicts. The work it does is extremely technical and necessary. In terms of clarity of purpose and significance it stands proud among very few organisations of the humanitarian world.

Neil Turton

Managing Director, Sugro Wholesale Neil is an experienced CEO with significant executive and non-executive experience on the boards of large value-driven organisations including Nisa Retail and Co-ops UK. For the last few years, Neil has organised fundraising cycle rides for MAG in Asia with a growing network of retail and wholesale executives.

It’s a privilege to work with MAG. Their culture and the purpose of the MAG team is special. They have such strong values alongside an effective governance structure.

John Malik

Chief Operating OfficerJohn is currently Chief Operating Officer at Rothschild Wealth and has 17 years' experience in advising emerging and developing market corporates, financials and sovereigns. Previously, John practiced law at Allen & Overy.

MAG's mandate is practical: the benefits to impacted communities are real and there is a palpable sense of the contribution that one can make. That's both unique and motivating.

Anthony Collier

Chartered accountant and insolvency practitioner Anthony is a chartered accountant and insolvency practitioner with over 15 years of experience in advising corporates and stakeholders in times of financial or operational change. He uses his transaction and restructuring experience to deliver projects to improve, preserve or restore value for clients. Anthony joined the board in January 2017 and has recently visited the Lebanon project to see first-hand MAG’s humanitarian mine action work.

MAG saves lives and provides a platform for other NGOs to deliver humanitarian relief in some of the most hostile environments in the world.

Dominic Kendal-Ward

General Counsel - Co-op Insurance, Funeralcare and Life PlanningDominic is a solicitor and is currently General Counsel at Co-op Insurance, Funeralcare and Life Planning, based in Manchester. He was counsel within the corporate team at international law firm Linklaters LLP, where he had 12 years’ experience of advising a range of multi-national clients.

What is truly incredible about MAG is the people. From the teams in the field to the staff supporting programmes across the world to HQ colleagues back in Manchester, there is a single-minded dedication to MAG’s vital work.

Management team

Jane Cocking

Jane has 25 years’ experience in the humanitarian sector and has responded to multiple crises across the world, from Somalia to Syria. She has also been involved in many strategic initiatives to improve the quality of humanitarian response, such as the SPHERE project and the Core Humanitarian Standard. Jane worked for the ODA (the Department for International Development's predecessor) and Save the Children before spending almost 20 years with Oxfam GB, eight as Humanitarian Director. She joined MAG as Chief Executive in January 2017.

Chris Loughran

Chris joined MAG in 2006 from various roles in the UK civil service. He managed MAG's programme in Iraq, before taking several roving roles covering the Middle East and Asia. Chris is responsible for MAG’s strategic stance on key sector policy issues including the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention and small arms.

Llewelyn Jones

Llewelyn has 16 years’ experience within the humanitarian mine action sector, working in several roles both at MAG HQ and field programmes in Africa, the Middle East and South East Asia. He is responsible for leading the development and delivery of our global programme strategy, the quality and performance of our programmes, and their efficiency, effectiveness and impact.

Darren Cormack

Darren is responsible for MAG's government and commercial partnerships, and our marketing and fundraising functions. Darren joined MAG in 2008, before which he worked for both the private and non-profit sectors in the UK and internationally, including in Cambodia, South Sudan, Sudan, Philippines and Indonesia.